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THE TEN Things That The Forthcoming Star Wars Blu-ray Should Include.

Our Marcus thinks about what he wants out of Steve Sansweet's recent tease...

"We're not ready to announce exactly when it's coming out, but it won't be in the too distant future." Lucasfilm director of fan relations Steve Sansweet, Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) April 2010

With Lucasfilm's Steve Sansweet recently revealing that the Star Wars movies will be coming to Blu-ray soon, I thought now was a good time to sit down and really think about what I want from one of the most anticipated releases for the ever growing Blu-ray format.

Before we begin, I’ll say up front the list won’t include The Best Video and Audio Possible, because frankly, I consider this a bare minimum. Beyond the ten listed below, I think we all expect the release of The Star Wars Saga to deliver on at least that.

So here I list the ten things the forthcoming Star Wars Blu-ray release should include...

It’s all well and good that the two Star Wars trilogies have been treated as two separate entities on DVD so far. The prequels were fresh in our heads after their cinematic releases and the original trilogy was being treated with the ‘classic’ status, but now it’s time to push that mentality aside. It’s time the Complete Saga presented itself as one complete story.

Now, I’m not saying they shouldn’t do the two trilogies separately as an option. I understand there’s a bunch of folks out there who only want IV to VI, but I would really like to see a complete box set option this time out and bind the two trilogies together once and for all.

I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been underwhelmed with pretty much all of the Star Wars packaging designs since The Phantom Menace first arrived on video (besides the odd alternative sleeve and the odd limited edition versions). The basic sleeve designs all had that Photoshop feel and while it was all good that they all shared a similar design I’m after something a little more “classic”.

Given that we all have different tastes the best way forward is probably reversible sleeves. One side featuring the original theatrical posters and the other offering up some new designs that are good enough alternatives. Also I’m looking for an outer box that sits proudly on my Blu-ray collection shelf. I don’t want a generic spine, I want something that the eyes are drawn to and for the Star Wars Saga to own the shelf it sits on. Personally a black box with a simple Star Wars logo on the spine does it for me, but whatever avenue they take I’m hoping it’s more slick than flashy.

With content and packaging out of the way let’s focus on the specifics. Each of the six episodes should be there in all their different versions right? This is Blu-ray after all. The format that has space to spare and with years of bitching about original and special editions, it’s about time Lucasfilm released the product we’re all wanted—the one that covers it all.

So, just to be clear: original theatrical versions, ’97 special editions and the DVD versions of the original trilogy (you know, the one with the slightly less gooey Jabba amongst other things).

Moving onto the prequels, with the much talked about and indeed glimpsed at new scenes arriving in at least The Phantom Menace (including the much needed CGI Yoda), I’m hoping we don’t just get the new versions on the new format. Again, I’m after theatrical and then any changes in a separate selection.

Oh and before you think we’ll forget. all in HD. You know how we all felt about the original versions of the original trilogy when they got thrown out on DVD, Lucasfilm. Don't let us down.

This is really the area where no stone should be left unturned. Over the years we’ve had CD-roms offer up New Hope gems, DVDs presenting newly finished extra scenes, websites unearthing missing moments and enough production photos of unseen moments to formulate a whole new episode (well maybe not that many).

We want everything. Luke on Tatooine, Wampas attacking the Hoth Base, The Return of the Jedi sand storm, Anakin’s Greedo scrap, Dooku’s double lightsaber battle with Anakin at the end of Attack of the Clones and if Lucas wants to make it up with Liam Neeson and offer up some Qui Gonn in Revenge of the Sith it wouldn’t go amiss. The list goes on and on and we know enough about what’s out there, so here is the place to pull it all together.

Of course I’m not expecting miracles. Not all of this is going to be available and even then a lot of it is probably going to look god awful, but throw it on anyway. We all know what we’re in for and frankly this sort of stuff takes makes a Blu-ray release of Star Wars a must have.

One of the best things about the previous Star Wars releases were the commentaries. All were jammed with facts and the prequels always had that sense that Lucas might let something slip about the next episodes or confirm a little nugget about how Anakin becomes Vader.

That was all well and good back then but now we have the whole picture, so I’m up for a commentary that doesn’t hold back. Having George Lucas fill in the gaps and explaining his feelings on specific moments would be a great addition but even more than that we totally need a cast commentary.

Imagine how good it would be to have all the key players for each movie turning up to share their thoughts. Imagine Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Jake Lloyd on Phantom Menace or even Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher on the original Trilogy. Pepper in the odd special guest from Warwick Davis, Ahmed Best or Ian McDiarmid and even better imagine if these were picture-in-picture commentaries. Of course, this is wishful thinking and probably will never happen but there has to be a way of getting some players to get involved and it would be a hell of an extra feature.

Alternatively or even additionally, I’d like to see some celebrity fan commentaries. I’m pretty sure the Family Guy and Robot Chicken guys owe Lucasfilm a favour, but this area has limitless possibilities and would be a great change of flavour for a Star Wars commentary.

Let’s be honest. Other than The Phantom Menace's “The Beginning” documentary, have any of the Star Wars DVD documentaries ever been more than a glimpse of what we wanted? Yeah, the original trilogy one had its moments, but really there’s so much more that could be provided isn’t there?

I’d love to see a documentary with all the main players talking up the saga all intercut with on-set footage and promotional photos and whatever other gems they can use to make it feel like a definitive look at the entire history of the Star Wars movies.

Ideally, we’d get ninety or so minutes per movie, covering everything from casting to model making, CGI to filming locations. All in the same style, all focused and enjoyable. Much akin to the Alien Quadrilogy a few years back.

Within that and maybe even offered up separately it’d be nice to see some original documentaries, the original Return of the Jedi making of and a selection of TV specials. There’s a load of this stuff out there and to have it housed in one place is would be a joy.

I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite enjoy watching a movie with a pop up fact-track. Of course, they have to be good—as an example the one on the first Spider-man DVD provided a nice cross section of facts, figures, box office results, film making details, cast stories and so on.

Another great one was on one of the Terminator 2 editions that had arrows pointing at things to look out for. This sort of feature was offered up for at least The Phantom Menace via the Star Wars DVD-ROM features and the Hyperspace online service a few years back and they were good fun. I mean, sometimes it’s good to point out the odd hidden homage or minor special effect in the background, right?

We’ve had a fair splattering of these before but what would a Star Wars release be without including these? The memories for just the prequel episode trailers alone demand their inclusion. Throw in poster designs and TV spots and any weird and wonderful advertising campaigns the Star Wars characters have been used for worldwide and you’ve got yourself a fun little extra with small nuggets of the saga’s history to pop in and out of providing a large chunk of nostalgia.

This one selection is a personal one but I’d love a good documentary dedicated to the world of Star Wars collectables, especially the action figures.

Of course this has to be comprehensive, I don’t want it to be poor excuse to advertise the latest Hasbro release or anything (anyone see that twenty-five years of Transformers featurette on the Transformers 2 disc? ...Urghh).

I want to see packaging, evolution in designs and details about variant editions. Limited edition collectables and some outrageous things that only the insanely rich have in their houses and a wander around Skywalker Ranch looking at some of those trinkets we see in the background in some of George Lucas interviews would also be a nice touch.

Now here is where the fan in me really breaks through. I don’t know what I want but I think Star Wars on Blu-ray is the place to introduce a new extra feature. Along the lines of how The Matrix made “follow the white rabbit” a cool DVD term or how Sony and Disney discs have their Cinechat or link to IMDB features. It would be nice for Star Wars to introduce something special to the masses and something that isn’t slow and annoying like BD-Live. Any ideas?

So there you go. The selection I’d like to see on the Star Wars Blu-rays. I don’t hold out much hope for it all being included, after all Sansweet himself said “I won't call it the Ultimate Set because we keep finding stuff” but then he did go on to say that it’s “a very full set of all six movies on Blu-ray with lots of extra material. We're finding all kinds of scenes from dailies that have never been seen before. Beyond all of those things that you know about… there are some real treasures." So I guess we’ll wait and see.

In the meantime why not use the talk back section below to discuss what you’d want on the discs. First one to say a Jar Jar-less prequel trilogy release gets a galaxy wide groan...

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Comments

27th April 2010 11:49#1

1 Word on the commentary front: Rifftrax. They've done them for the originals now too, implementing them onto the blu-rays as an option on top of other commentaries would really bolster the fun aspect, keeping a light tone in between what should be considerably hefty extras going into stunning detail about each moment, but that's the geek in me screaming out too much too soon.

27th April 2010 11:53#2

I would LOVE to see the Star Wars Holiday Special added as a bonus. Now that would be something.

Oh, and your idea on the toys and merchandising..BRILLIANT. I said that when they released the original trilogy on DVD a few years back. Can you imagine all the stuff that would be on that thing? Even if it's a menu-driven type thing. We can do each movie seperately. Ahh...dare to dream I guess.

I even think the Marvel comic books should be included as a bonus. They had one for each of the original trilogy movies.

27th April 2010 16:09#8

It would be great to see the deleted scenes - Lucas has always archived all of his material (the documentary in the Original Trilogy DVD set contained one or two shots of deleted footage), even if all of it isn't exactly able to be reincorporated in the films, they can at least be presented in as close to a completed version as possible - the Wampa attack in Echo Base is probably the deleted scene we want to see the most.

It would also be cool if you could select an alternate audio track that would include the original music cues to certain scenes. The scored Carbon-Freezing Chamber duel is just wonderful and would be great to hear it properly mixed with dialogue and sound-effects. The original Binary Sunset track is also very interesting and carries a piece of leitmotif that has a coda that can be heard in the finished film when Luke returns to the Lars homestead.

There have been some rumours that the Blu-Ray releases of the films are going to be tinkered with again - two of the more persistent rumours concerns the Vader Vs Obi-Wan duel in A New Hope, where it has been said that some liberal use of CGI will see them both leaping around and somersaulting all over the joint; the other rumour is that a senate scene will be dropped in showing Palpatine sweeping away the last remnants of the Old Republic (which was supposedly filmed during the Revenge of the Sith shoot).

A commentary track from Mark Hammil would be nice - assuming that he's not TOO bitter and twisted these days.

Or, as outside chances - include the Star Wars Holiday Special or have a mini-featurette showing George Lucas giving Peter Meyhew a great big hug. Thought not...

27th April 2010 16:39#10

Wilson Bros wrote: There have been some rumours that the Blu-Ray releases of the films are going to be tinkered with again - two of the more persistent rumours concerns the Vader Vs Obi-Wan duel in A New Hope, where it has been said that some liberal use of CGI will see them both leaping around and somersaulting all over the joint; the other rumour is that a senate scene will be dropped in showing Palpatine sweeping away the last remnants of the Old Republic (which was supposedly filmed during the Revenge of the Sith shoot). The Wilson Bros

I guess small moments could be put in the OT to tie things up a little tighter too. Maybe a glimpse at Bail Organa just before Alderaan goes boom, just to make that a little more personal, maybe a few PT aliens dotted around the Cantina and Jabba's palace (maybe a washed up Watto drunk in the corner). Small touches like that I can deal with. Just don't be adding the entire Jedi Council to the blue ghosts at the end of Jedi or have an aged Hayden Christensen in the Vader costume. Just avoid anything ridiculous or too big like that, Mr Lucas.

27th April 2010 17:11#11

Some nice little ideas there, Marcus - we've thought about those ones, too. A shot or two of Alderaan would inrease the tension and also help to bind the two trilogies together.

It would be terribly nice if Lucas COULD persuade Liam Neeson to put in a belated appearance as Qui-Gon Ginn at the end of Revenge of the Sith, as it would bring a natural end to the Prequel Trilogy, rather than just having Yoda causally explaining that Qui-Gon popped up earlier and told me the secret of immortality.

We don't have a problem with the revoicing of Boba Fett - it's just a shame that the usually great Temuera Morrison gives a surprisingly flat delivery of 50% of the dialogue he replaces.

27th April 2010 17:12#12

David WhiteMemberJoin Date: March 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 217

Ld > dvd

MrMike wrote: For anyone who ever owned or still owns the LD Definitive Box set has tons of behind the scenes matertial that could be ported over.

(If I am wrong please correct me) The DVD reissue of the OT was a horrid transfer. I have often wondered what happened to the LD transfer. I still have the VHS released in 95 just because the transfer is the best, even on VHS. More than likely when they release the saga they won't release the OT because Lucas has said himself that the original trilogy is dead to him. Then three years down the line they will release the OT again separately and we will replace the existing disks in the set with them.

In my own collection of the DVDs I have the two disk re-releases in the DVD boxed set instead of seperetly.

27th April 2010 17:16#13

Wilson Bros wrote: It would be terribly nice if Lucas COULD persuade Liam Neeson to put in a belated appearance as Qui-Gon Ginn at the end of Revenge of the Sith, as it would bring a natural end to the Prequel Trilogy, rather than just having Yoda causally explaining that Qui-Gon popped up earlier and told me the secret of immortality. Kevin & Nick W

27th April 2010 17:32#15

thats all well and good but the guy did say this wasn't gonna be "THE ULTIMATE EDITION" so while i'm sure they'll have a good amount of extras and have all 6 movies together. i doubt we'll have multiple versions of movies.

it'll likely just be the same releases but in high-def. i've no doubt they might have tinkered with some SFX (like CGI Yoda for Episode 1, maybe another pass at Jabba in Episode 4) to improve things or whatnot but i highly doubt there will be more than one version of each movie.

personally while i've always enjoyed the series and grew up with the OT, they aren't these awesome, perfect masterpieces to me...simply just good movies. so all i'm expecting is a nice collection with all 6 together and some good extras. but whatever comes i'll definately get it and not worry about the inevitible multiple dips in the future.

but i do have to ask, say they did do as this article asks...why bother putting both the special editions AND dvd editions? they are the same movies save for some minor tweaking like Jabba and Hayden at the end of Jedi.

27th April 2010 17:35#17

Paco wrote: - Space background full of stars, NOT BLACK, as it can be seen on the episodes IV, V and VI 2004´s dvd edititon.

the backgrounds look fine and full of stars on my copies. you sure this isnt just a tv issue in your home or maybe its a region specific problem since i see you're in a different region code then i am.

27th April 2010 19:59#19

Bouncy X wrote: but i do have to ask, say they did do as this article asks...why bother putting both the special editions AND dvd editions? they are the same movies save for some minor tweaking like Jabba and Hayden at the end of Jedi.

Just to have the whole set really. See the differences. I'll never watch the '97's but the geek in me thinks I should have them, if for nothing else but to gut laugh at how bad Jabba looks and how that ever got passed.

27th April 2010 20:43#21

Here are some thoughts...I already approve of all of the suggestions in the original article.

A "silly branching" option...at every point in the story where either Family Guy or Robot Chicken did their own take on a scene (or what happened before/after), have a little while Chicken icon that allows you to go to that scene. For example, the Krayt dragon bit from the 2nd RC special. ETC.

And while it won't happen...have the complete Holiday Special (or at LEAST the Boba Fett cartoon) as an Easter Egg.

To add to ideas already mentioned...

Yes, in addition to NEW material, ALL of the previous documentaries and commentaries need to be there--not just from the previous DVD's but also the 1993, 1995 and 1997 Laserdisc releases as well. And especially the TV documentaries: The Making of Star Wars, SPFX: TESB, Classic Creatures: ROTJ and From Star Wars to Jedi.

Other TV appearances, such as Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. And R2D2 Beneath the Dome, which is genius.

27th April 2010 20:46#22

27th April 2010 22:40#23

Marcus1138 wrote: Bouncy X wrote: but i do have to ask, say they did do as this article asks...why bother putting both the special editions AND dvd editions? they are the same movies save for some minor tweaking like Jabba and Hayden at the end of Jedi.

Just to have the whole set really. See the differences. I'll never watch the '97's but the geek in me thinks I should have them, if for nothing else but to gut laugh at how bad Jabba looks and how that ever got passed.

well i wont laugh at you cuz i'd want the same for a movie series that i loved a lot.

28th April 2010 3:05#24

-Whatever SE (2004 or a new one) and the Theatrical Versions for the OT remastered in HD -Original Stereo Track and Mono Track audio options for ANH Theatrical Version -Every single extra from the LDs and DVDs plus new ones -Deleted Scenes -Great Vintage/Archival material -Everything! :D

Also, have complete series DVD sets of Droids and Ewoks and Blu-Ray releases of the Ewok movies released for the ocassion.

28th April 2010 3:13#25

Man, I'd love to see the original one sheets for all the covers but there's no way in hell they'd even consider that an option. It will most likely be new PhotoShop jobs similar to what we've seen on the last couple releases. I do like that image of your packaging idea nonetheless, that would look really sweet. Other than that here's my thoughts on an ideal box set:

1. Versions: I agree that there should be more than one version included, undoubtedly Lucas will have ready his latest "final cut" of each movie so that'll likely be the default version. Other than that it's essential that they include fully restored original theatrical cuts for each movie, anamorphic at 1080 resolution. If they do nothing else I want, this is the most important feature for the collection. I don't think the '97 SE's should be included though, only one tampered-with version will do, thank you.

2. Deleted Scenes: After seeing Sansweet's comments about uncovering rare dailies, I think our prayers have finally been answered and we're actually gonna get the cut footage we've been clamoring for for years. I wouldn't expect everything though, I'm not sure much if any of the Wampa Rebel Base attack even exists considering the problems they had with the costume shooting Luke's attack scene. But there's still tons of possibilities as anyone who's read the Marvel Comics adaptions could confirm.

3. Commentaries: Again, I'm in agreement here, I found the previous commentaries, while good, were lacking. They need to bring in a hell of a lot more participants, most notably actors to contribute and then to re-edit and separate the commentaries into themed tracks, much like in the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films. Let's face it, Carrie Fisher sitting alone as the only actor commentating is ridiculous, Mark Hamill needs to swallow his pride, stop being a b***h and actually be proud of being a part of the phenomenon. Harrison Ford is already a long-shot so Mark needs to be the one to grab the reigns. And there's still plenty of other actors still living that I'm sure would be more than willing to join in, please feel free to gather them up, guys.

4. Isolated Score: Highly unlikely to be even considered but not a bad idea nonetheless.

5. Documentaries: You mentioned the Alien Quadrilogy as a good comparison for an ideal collection of behind the scenes footage and I couldn't agree more. Imagine a couple dozen featurettes compiled into "Pre-Production," "Production," and "Post-Production" categories with a "Play All" feature that covers just about every aspect imaginable of the process of making these films, clocking in at around 3 hours for EACH MOVIE. Words cannot describe the awesomeness. It would be great to also include all four of the vintage "Making of's" but I wouldn't count on it considering they possess interviews of Lucas contradicting his more recent interviews as well as coming off as hypocritical such as this quote from "From Star Wars to Jedi":

"One of the fatal mistakes that almost every science fiction film makes is that they spend so much time on the settings, you know, creating the environment, that they spend film time on it. And you don't have to spend too much film time to create an environment. What they're doing is showing off the amount of work that they generated. And it slows the pace of the film down. The story is not the setting, the story is the story, the plot."

Yeah Lucas likely doesn't want to come off as looking foolish so I doubt these will be included on that factor alone.

6. Marketing: Of course they have to include the trailers and TV spots, it's preposterous to do otherwise, and please acknowledge and include the original "Lapti Nek" music video, preferably in widescreen format. I also agree that I'd love to see a feature-length documentary on the history of the toys as well as cover the failed prototypes and undeveloped ideas.

7. Prequel Stuff: Not a huge fan of the prequels so I don't have too much in mind regarding them, whatever they include will be fine in my book, however I'm on board the whole "Green Screen Version" idea that Sin City included in its Special Edition DVD, that would be cool.

That's all I can think of for now, here's hoping they won't let us down this time...

28th April 2010 5:17#26

Manda of MuMemberJoin Date: June 2006Location: United StatesPosts: 458

This would be great and all but Lucas has proven time and time again that he does not give two s**ts about his fan base. He will think nothing of re-releasing these films on BD just as he did with VHS and DVD.

28th April 2010 11:46#30

David WhiteMemberJoin Date: March 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 217

Thoughts on Lucas

Manda of Mu wrote: This would be great and all but Lucas has proven time and time again that he does not give two s**ts about his fan base. He will think nothing of re-releasing these films on BD just as he did with VHS and DVD.

I feel bad for saying this...not that bad though XD. Star Wars will never get the respect it deserves until Lucas is in his grave. That includes the mere thought of a VII-IX trilogy. Again, can't trust him to make it anyhow. Because it might take a real director to do it. Can't direct your actors with "Faster! More intense!"

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